Contents

Biography

Dimitri was the best friend and second-in-command of Mikhail Faustin. The two met each other while serving in the Soviet Army during the Cold War, and eventually spent time in a Siberian prison together. The two were "closer than brothers", according to Mikhail; following the move to Liberty City, however, Mikhail became an alcoholic and cocaine addict, and no longer heeded Dimitri's advice. Dimitri himself developed an addiction to painkillers.

Volatile and paranoid, Mikhail would have people killed on a whim or out of spite and favored murder as the solution to most problems; Dimitri, by contrast, was more of a businessman, willing to use reason and non-lethal methods if such an approach would be more profitable. Dimitri warned Mikhail that their operation should keep a low profile and that they should "play by the rules", but Mikhail would not listen; his intemperance eventually led to bad terms with Kenny Petrovic, after Mikhail had Lenny Petrovic murdered on the mere suspicion of betrayal.

Dimitri cut a side deal with Kenny Petrovic to save his own life — in exchange for the murder of Mikhail; Dimitri would live, and continue the operation in Mikhail's place without interference from Petrovic. Dimitri hired Niko Bellic to kill Mikhail — Petrovic allegedly requested that Niko kill Mikhail as atonement for his prior killing of Lenny.

With Mikhail dead, Dimitri took over the Faustin organization, and became partners with another powerful gangster, the European Ray Bulgarin. Once it was discovered that Bulgarin held a grudge against Niko, Dimitri lured the latter into an ambush; Niko escaped with the aid of his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes, but failed to kill Dimitri or Bulgarin -- both would continue to pursue Niko from then on.

Dimitri put out a contract on Niko and his cousin, Roman Bellic. Their apartment in Hove Beach was burned down, as was Roman's taxi depot; the two were forced to flee to Bohan to escape the attention of the Russian underworld. Dimitri would be seen again throughout the course of the story, at one point successfully finding and kidnapping Roman after his gambling habit lured him back to Broker. Niko mounted a successful rescue of Roman; he would next encounter Dimitri's deputies when the Russian Mafia attempted to extort deputy mayor Bryce Dawkins over his gay affair with Niko's friend Bernie Crane. Later, mob boss Jon Gravelli revealed that Dimitri had made an alliance with the Ancelotti Family, and was attempting to seize control of activities usually conducted by the Italian Mafia; he also spoke of Dimitri's involvement in cocaine imports, a matter of grave concern to United Liberty Paper's anonymous representative.

Relationship with Mikhail Faustin

Dimitri and Mikhail Faustin have twin tattoos on the palms of their hands, meaning "brothers for life" according to Mikhail. Dimitri appears to have become "the brains" of the Russian operation, Mikhail's cocaine addiction having eroded his business sense; eventually Mikhail's rashness risks the lives of himself, Dimitri and Niko, and Dimitri conspires to kill him with Niko's help (see The Master and the Molotov). At the Perestroika cabaret club, Niko ambushes Mikhail, killing his entourage and confronting him on the roof; Mikhail warns that Dimitri is treacherous, and will betray Niko just as he has betrayed Mikhail; Niko ignores this and shoots Mikhail dead. Although Dimitri's motives were obvious here, Mikhail's prediction turns out to be true when Dimitri allies with a hater of Niko, Ray Bulgarin.

Death

Towards the conclusion of the story, Dimitri becomes involved in a heroin distribution ring with the Pegorino Family, for whom Niko is working at the time. Jimmy Pegorino who knows that Niko has a grudge against Dimitri, and his associates asks Niko to be his representative; the player can choose to conduct the deal as Jimmy wishes, thus gaining a sizable cash reward, or to ambush and kill Dimitri, taking revenge.

Take The Dark Path

If Niko opts to work with Dimitri again, he meets Phil Bell in Tudor. They drive to the meet, and Niko receives a call from Dimitri, who reveals he has killed the buyers for the heroin, and taken the money. Niko and Phil then scramble to reclaim the cash, finally catching up with the goon holding on to it. Niko gives Kate McReary a call, she is upset that Niko did the deal Roman on the other hand is very happy that he did. Kate refuses her previous invite to Roman's wedding, declaring that she cannot be around Niko. Roman's wedding nonetheless goes ahead, but fearing a retaliation from Niko, Dimitri sends a hitman to dispose of him. A struggle breaks out, and Niko manages to turn the gun on the hitman, but not before a stray bullet was discharged, hitting and killing Roman. A devastated Niko later meets up with Jacob, and both track a couple of Dimitri's henchmen to their hideout in Alderney. After Niko fights his way into the casino, he finds Dimitri holding Pegorino at gunpoint. After a short time Dimitri shoots Pegorino, and attempts to escape the casino in a helicopter while Niko pursues him in a boat. After a lengthy chase down the Humbolt Jacob appears in an Annihalator which Niko boards an air-chase then begins after some shooting flames appear on Dimitri's and your copter. Both crash onto Happiness Island Niko cuts through Dimitri's remaining men and confronts Dimitri at the base of the Statue of Happiness. Niko questions Dimitri on his actions in the past. After a short time Dimitri collapses from his injuries and dies.

Do The Right Thing

If Niko takes revenge upon Dimitri He travels down to East Hook and boards the Platypus the very ship on which the game started. Niko then cuts through many waves of guards until he reaches the Bridge of the ship. Once there he opens the cargo hold and makes his way to Dimitri. Niko then cuts through some more guards and finally confronts Dimitri after a brief gun battle Dimitri is fatally wounded and is left to Nikos mercy. Dimitri begs for forgiveness but is kneecapped then shot in the head.Leaving the ship, Niko receives a call from Phil, despite Niko's decision, he understood why, though he says Niko's actions have destroyed the Pegorino family and they cannot talk anymore. Niko then calls Kate, who is very happy that Niko didn't take the money. She is delighted to attend Roman's wedding. Unfortunately, at the wedding, an angry Pegorino performs an inaccurate drive-by among the guests in a bid to kill Niko for ruining the Pegorino's. Instead, it is Kate who is fatally caught in the hail of bullets. Devastated, Niko, Jacob and Roman follow Pegorino's goons to his hideout in Alderney, where he flees in a speedboat towards Happiness Island. Both the helicopter, and speedboat crash upon the island, where Niko kills Pegorino.

Exploited a loophole in the immigration treaty to gain US residency in the mid 90s.

Believed to be the right hand man of Mikhail Faustin, the Russian national in control of organized crime in the Hove Beach area.

Reported dealings with Russian mobster Kenny Petrovic and members of the Ancelotti Crime Syndicate.

Trivia

Dimitri is a Russian name, but not spelled correctly. A more exact transcription for the name is Dmitri or Dmitry. This mistake may be due to Rockstar's poor knowledge of most non-English languages or it may be due to out of story reasons.

During the game's final battle in A Revenger's Tragedy, Dimitri has 100% body armor as well as 200% health, allowing him to sustain about 3 times as much damage as a standard enemy. He is also armed with a Carbine Rifle. If the Revenge path is chosen, he will not have the extra health and only have a Sub Machine Gun that he does not use.

Like many other characters, Dimitri features distinctive models for cutscenes and in-game sequences. However, Dimitri's in-game model is inconsistent with that of the cutscenes in that his tie is been fused with his shirt and textured to match its color, when cutscenes depict his tie in pink and capable of swinging in motion. Despite these differences, the shape of the "fused" tie can still be seen on Dimitri's in-game model, particularly during "A Dish Served Cold". After Niko has executed Dimitri in this mission however, the tie does not appear on Dimitri's corpse. The frame of his glasses is also different: Black in cutscenes and yellow in-game.

Dimitri's cousin was a girlfriend of Lenny Petrovic before his death. This is probably the reason why Dimitri could make a deal with Kenny Petrovic after Mikhail Faustin's hit.

As the story progresses, a Weazel News report on the radio will say that Russian businessman Dimitri Rascalov was held by police but released without charges though this event has nothing to do with the story. Although it does show that the police suspect him or know what he's up to and that he knows how to cover his tracks.

If the Revenge option is taken, Dimitri, along with Vinnie, is the only antagonist not to be killed in the final mission.

Dimitri, like Massimo Torini is one of the two main antagonists of the entire GTA series who is not seen in the introduction cutscene for their respective game.

Dimitri seems to have become very powerful after taking control of Faustin's gang as he has managed to set up numerous drug operations in Charge Island and Alderney and has become a serious problem for various powerful criminals and politicians, such as Jon Gravelli, Bobby Jefferson and Bryce Dawkins.

Dimitri was probably born or lived in Moscow, as he says in "Do You Have Protection?": "...Or selling hash to tourists at Red Square."